_____________________________________________________
- Reminder: QPR Fan Forum On Thursday, February 7
- Seven Year Flashback: Ian Holloway's Final Game in Charge of QPR (Loss at Leeds)
- Paul Kelso/Telegraph - Football League Still in Upbeat Mood Despite Revealing 1 Billion Debt
- "Bumped" Article - How Fans Kept Some Clubs Alive
- Ex-QPR Kieron Dyer Played for Middlesbrough. Charitable contribution to Ipswich
- Red Card for Joey Barton
- Ex-QPR Keith Curle Axed by Notts County. Acting Manager is Ex-QPR Chris Kiwomya
- The Good old Days! Six Year Flashback - Chairman Paladini - QPR1st - Recent rumours update Saturday, 03 February 2007Mercedes Benz?
- The Good old Days! Six Year Flashback - Chairman Paladini - QPR1st - Recent rumours update Saturday, 03 February 2007Mercedes Benz?
TABLE A YEAR AGO
| POS | LP | CLUB | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
(2) | Manchester United | 25 | 18 | 4 | 3 | 61 | 25 | 36 | 58 |
| 2 | |
(1) | Manchester City | 24 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 63 | 19 | 44 | 57 |
| 3 | |
(3) | Tottenham Hotspur | 25 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 49 | 25 | 24 | 53 |
| 4 | |
(6) | Arsenal | 25 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 48 | 35 | 13 | 43 |
| 5 | |
(4) | Chelsea | 25 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 44 | 31 | 13 | 43 |
| 6 | |
(5) | Newcastle United | 25 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 36 | 36 | 0 | 42 |
| 7 | |
(7) | Liverpool | 25 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 29 | 23 | 6 | 39 |
| 8 | |
(9) | Norwich City | 25 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 37 | 41 | -4 | 35 |
| 9 | |
(8) | Sunderland | 25 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 34 | 26 | 8 | 33 |
| 10 | |
(11) | Everton | 25 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 26 | 27 | -1 | 33 |
| 11 | |
(10) | Swansea City | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 28 | 32 | -4 | 30 |
| 12 | |
(14) | Fulham | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 31 | 36 | -5 | 30 |
| 13 | |
(12) | Stoke City | 25 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 24 | 38 | -14 | 30 |
| 14 | |
(13) | Aston Villa | 24 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 29 | 33 | -4 | 28 |
| 15 | |
(15) | West Bromwich Albion | 24 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 24 | 34 | -10 | 26 |
| 16 | |
(16) | Queens Park Rangers | 25 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 27 | 44 | -17 | 21 |
| 17 | |
(17) | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 24 | 5 | 6 | 13 | 27 | 44 | -17 | 21 |
| 18 | |
(19) | Blackburn Rovers | 25 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 37 | 56 | -19 | 21 |
| 19 | |
(18) | Bolton Wanderers | 25 | 6 | 2 | 17 | 29 | 51 | -22 | 20 |
| 20 | |
(20) | Wigan Athletic | 25 | 4 | 7 | 14 | 23 | 50 | -27 | 19 |
BBC
Owner Tony Fernandes says he will continue to back QPR
Tony Fernandes says he will continue to back QPR financially if he
steps down as chairman and is still confident the club can beat the
drop.
"If it goes wrong and people think I'm the wrong chairman, I'll step down, but my investment will stay," he said.
Fernandes also defended the signing of Chris Samba and rejected reports about the defender's weekly wages.
Continue reading the main story
“The club has been hopelessly underinvested for a vast number of years and we're putting that investment right”QPR chairman Tony Fernandes
"It's nothing like £100,000, it's more like the £65,000 mark," Fernandes told Radio 5 live's Sportsweek.
QPR, managed by Harry Redknapp, are bottom of the
Premier League table, six points adrift of safety after collecting just
17 points from 25 games.
But they spent heavily in the January transfer window, signing Samba from Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala for £12.5m, as well as striker Loic Remy, midfielder Jermaine Jenas and defender Yun Suk-Young.
"We're in a fight, but we think we can get out of this mess," added Fernandes. "We're in no man's land at the moment.
"We're a small club with a small stadium, but you have to make investments to go forward.
"Samba was a player we wanted for three transfer windows, but we could never make it work."
Fernandes clarified recent tweets suggesting he would step down as chairman if he thought it was best for the London club.
"I think people misunderstand what I said," he said. "[If I] walk away as chairman, I'll continue to be a board member and support the club because I have a long-term vision for the club.
"The club has been hopelessly underinvested for a vast number of years and we're putting that investment right.
"I knew that we'd have quite a few years struggling. I've always known we'd have a fight. If we go down, we'll prepare for it."
On Peter Odemwingie, who was heavily criticised by his club, West Brom, for seemingly trying to orchestrate a move to QPR, Fernandes added: "Nothing we did was wrong.
"We never spoke to the player, we never got permission to speak to the player and I think it's a most unfortunate incident.
"No-one came out well, but we've acted in the most professional way."
Reposting also Tony Fernandes/The Telegraph
CHAIRMAN FERNANDES ASSURES
TELEGRAPH - JASON BURT
Queens Park Rangers chairman Tony Fernandes says Premier League club 'will not become a Portsmouth'
Tony
Fernandes, the chairman of Queens Park Rangers, has strongly defended
the club’s spending in the January transfer window and denied he has
acted “recklessly” insisting there is a “sensible” business plan in
place.
By Jason Burt, Football Correspondent11:59PM GMT 02 Feb 2013
The Malaysian entrepreneur said that if QPR were relegated from the Premier League it would not lead to a financial meltdown.
“I’m
an accountant, I run businesses. We are sensible with what we are
doing,” Fernandes said, claiming that the club’s wage bill had actually
been reduced in January, because of the number of players who had gone
out on loan, and despite the arrival of high-earners Christopher Samba,
for £12.5 million, and Loïc Rémy for £7 million. On the pair, Fernandes
denied that Samba was being paid as much as £100,000-a-week and insisted
that the defender would stay at the club should they be relegated – and
did have a clause in his contract reducing his salary. Rémy, however,
would be sold.
“If
you analyse it we haven’t spent that much money on transfers and as for
our wage bill, when I look at other clubs when they put their results
out then ours is not too bad and there is now value in the squad,”
Fernandes said. “I don’t think there is any recklessness there.”
Nevertheless he conceded that owning a football club was a “gamble”.
“No
one can guarantee anything in football,” he added. “But you try to
minimise the risk as much as possible and that’s where the expertise of
the management comes in and they say 'this is what we need to survive’
and you look at it and if it makes sense then the board and myself
support it.
“Anyone
who says we are gambling then, of course, we are.” It is the degree of
that gamble that matters and Fernandes has been irked by the criticism
he has faced – that he is playing fast and loose with the club’s future
and its finances, that relegation from the Premier League could lead to a
Portsmouth-style administration.
“People
have not seen the balance sheet, have not seen the P and L [profit and
loss account], have not seen the five-year plan,” Fernandes argued.
“There
are no debts like at other clubs. We’ve put in a lot of money and it’s
no different from setting up a car business or an airline.
“But
it takes time. QPR were an underinvested club. Simple as that. I’m not
in it for one year, I’m investing for the future. I’m investing to build
a stadium, to build a training academy, to build a proper business.
“Of course when you buy a small club you are going to incur some losses at the beginning.”
That
was well understood? “Yes, we didn’t want to be at the bottom of the
division and, yes, if we go down it will hurt. But we are businessmen
who are prepared for all eventualities.
“We,
QPR, have to move out of the small club syndrome and for constant
security have to build a bigger stadium, a better infrastructure. So far
it hasn’t worked but we won’t be the first club for whom everything
hasn’t gone exactly to plan.
“We
inherited a squad where every single player who has left is no longer
playing in the Premier League, doesn’t that say something? We have
replaced and replenished the squad at a very low cost because most of
them were free transfers. This is the first window that we have spent
big money [last January Bobby Zamora was bought for £4.5 million and
Djibril Cissé for £4 million]. One is Chris Samba who we’ve wanted for
three transfer windows. It has been our problem from day one — a
centre-back. Chris is a good guy, he’s 28 and whether we go up or down
he will be with us. We are building a team around him.
“We
paid £12 million for Samba but West Ham paid close to that for Matt
Jarvis [£10.75 million] and Sunderland did for Adam Johnson [£10
million]. I think every club has an £8-9 million player, In Rémy’s case
we paid £7 million for a very good striker who is 24 and has a resell
value. If you go on [the website] transfermarket.com we have one of the
best valued squads but our squad has not performed well.
“We’ve
also let eight players go on loan [in January] which has taken a
massive chunk off the wage bill. And there may be one or two more going
in the Russian transfer window and the American transfer window. It’s
gone down. I can categorically state that not a single player is on
£100,000-a-week. The wage we are paying Loïc Rémy is the wage that
Newcastle were offering him. I just persuaded him that our project and
London was a better project than Newcastle’s.
“We
paid what Newcastle were offering. I spent a lot of time and effort and
he saw something in this project that he wanted to take a risk. If it
doesn’t work then we can find him somewhere else.
“It’s
not always about money. QPR are the bottom club and you don’t come to
the bottom club for the dollar sign. And I’m not going to get players
for the dollar signs.”
If QPR are relegated Fernandes and his backers — including the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal — will stay, he insisted.
Fernandes
also clarified what he meant when he said he might walk away if it was
felt he was not doing a good job. “I have to take the responsibility,”
he said. “But leaving the club didn’t mean I was going to take my
investment out – it just meant someone else might be better suited to be
chairman.” Telegraph
Guardian - James Callow
Harry Redknapp says QPR will get their money back on signings splurge
• QPR manager defends his six transfer window signings
• Goalless draw with Norwich leaves QPR adrift at bottom
Queens Park Rangers' January transfer dealings may have appeared frantic to the outside observer but Harry Redknapp insists that his six new signings represent little risk to a side still bottom of the Premier League and odds-on to be relegated.
Saturday's draw – Adel Taarabt had a penalty well saved by Mark Bunn – with a Norwich City side performing below their early-season standards will have done little to allay fears that a six-point gap between QPR and a safe position will be too wide to overcome. A potentially long-term groin injury for Loïc Rémy, only two games after his arrival, and Bobby Zamora's inability to play for longer than 30 minutes at a time has further undermined the QPR manager, and forced Redknapp to think about what might happen if his bid for survival fails.
"You look at the games we have had since the turn of the year and you'd take the points that we've got. We gave everything. I can't get any more out of the players," he said. "But I haven't brought players in here that are shit and we can't give them away. The club has invested but they'll get their money back."
Redknapp said the £12m signing of Chris Samba, who has not played since November, rates himself as "40% fit" and is paid a reported £80k a week, is almost risk free.
"If things don't go well and they want to get £12m for Samba then they will do – not a danger. Arsène Wenger said it was a great deal. So when people start criticising, that £12m will be £14m because managers will start saying: 'Oh Samba, he's back, I thought he'd gone. They've not done their money on Samba.'
"Samba should be playing for a top four team. I was trying to sign him for all the years that I was at Tottenham. He is quick as lightning, strong in the air and he can play. When I was at Tottenham we put a ball behind Samba [when he was at Blackburn Rovers], and Bale ran on to it. Bale went and he went and I said: 'Go on Gareth, there's only one winner.' Samba matched him stride for stride and then pinched the ball off him. He's lightning quick. He is a monster of a player, the full ticket.
"Rémy, for £7m, I don't think he's a problem either. If he scores a couple of goals, then he's £12m. Tottenham tried to buy him for £18m last year. The two kids from Tottenham, well one of them [the impressive winger Andros Townsend] is on £3k a week and the other [Jermaine Jenas, whose wages during his 18-month deal will be subsidised by Spurs] is not on very much."
Redknapp's chief concern is a lack of goals and Rémy and Zamora's fitness problems exaggerated the frustration at failing to sign Peter Crouch and Peter Odemwingie on Thursday. Rangers also allowed Djibril Cissé to leave on loan, although Redknapp derided the French striker, claiming: "I would have let him go earlier. I had to wait for the window to open."
The problem for QPR, apart from the fact that Redknapp has started referring to his club as "they", is not the cost of January's final throw of the dice but more what has gone before. On Saturday Redknapp was able to field 15 internationals in his matchday squad but he could have called on a further seven, including Samba Diakité, Luke Young, Andrew Johnson and José Bosingwa, had they been fit and had the manager wanted to.
Philip Beard, the club's chief executive, dismissed the idea that Loftus Road's 18,360 capacity was a serious concern, claiming that ticket revenues were on a par with at least half of the top-flight teams, but that only emphasises the importance of retaining a share of the Premier League's television deal. This is the outcome of Rangers' Four-Year Plan. Now behold the Four-Month Plan.
Norwich were no less turgid than QPR but their manager, Chris Hughton, believes a drip-drip of points will keep his side safe. After this draw and another point against Tottenham in midweek, Hughton feels that his side's slump has been overcome and he was pleased to give Luciano Becchio, signed from Leeds United last week, a debut as a substitute.
"He'll give us an option up front as it's been tough for Grant [Holt] this season," Hughton said. "Playing one up front means it's been a little less open but he's a real man, Holty. He's knuckled down. With Becchio we can play two up front when we need a bit more physical presence."
Man of the match Andros Townsend (Queens Park Rangers)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/feb/03/harry-redknapp-qpr-new-signings
MARTIN SAMUEL/DAILY MAIL
Attacking QPR for spending is like asking a drowning man not to swim
PUBLISHED: 19:41 EST, 3 February 2013 | UPDATED: 23:10 EST, 3 February 2013
So what else were Queens Park Rangers to do? Bottom of the league, the Championship and a financial disaster looming, what was the mysterious plan B that they should have tried?
Accept your fate? Go quickly and quietly? Kiss your ass goodbye, perhaps? Criticism of Rangers chairman Tony Fernandes for spending big in the transfer window is akin to castigating a drowning man for trying to swim.
No, it wasn't the most auspicious start on Saturday, and those predicting doom and economic despair for the club will believe their fears justified by a goalless home draw against Norwich City.
Justified: If Queens Park Rangers did not spend on the likes of Christopher Samba, they would have gone down
Yet what were the alternatives?
The brutal reality of the situation is that Rangers had no choice. To do nothing would have guaranteed relegation and crisis. They were cornered. The only way out was to gamble and hope one last time.
A headline suggesting sanity had prevailed on deadline day everywhere bar Loftus Road summed up the failure to understand Fernandes's predicament. To do nothing would have been the act of madness. To spurn this round in the last chance saloon, as expensive as it has proved, would have been the lunacy.
The poor performance of the players brought in by previous manager Mark Hughes has put the club in financial jeopardy - and the only way catastrophe can be avoided is if Rangers stay up. The only way Rangers can stay up? Overhaul a failing squad.
Had Adel Taarabt scored a second-half penalty it would already be suggested that the end justifies the means, as has happened at Newcastle United, the other big spenders in the window whose fortunes have turned around with wins against Aston Villa and Chelsea.
Christopher Samba and Loic Remy would look cheap at twice the price if Rangers could stay in the Premier League and collect next season's £50million television bounty. Rangers will be judged on a weekly basis from now until May.
Each win considered vindication; each defeat evidence of ruinous folly. And, true, threatened Villa refused to throw good money after bad, while Newcastle affected an equally sizeable influx of staff without betting the farm.
Yet neither of these clubs were adrift at the bottom of the league when the window opened. Neither were staring at the abyss like Rangers.
Newcastle have been falling steadily, but the basis of a good team remains, even if injury has taken its toll. Their signings were more of an insurance policy than an escape plan.
Bolstered: Redknapp drafted in Loic Remy (right) to add a killer touch up front
Bolstered: Redknapp drafted in Loic Remy (right) to add a killer touch up front
Randy Lerner, Villa's owner, has made his bed and will live with the consequences.
His strategy has altered vastly from the days when he was bankrolling Martin O'Neill's tilt at Champions League qualification. The personnel has changed for the cheaper, although not better, and if Villa are relegated the immediate financial impact will not be catastrophic.
It is different for QPR. Big-name signings bought by Hughes did not have clauses in their contracts to ease the wage burden in the event of relegation. Given the level of investment, falling out of the division was clearly not considered possible.
Problem solved? Alan Pardew splashed the cash on a number of players in the window, including Moussa Sissoko
Problem solved? Alan Pardew splashed the cash on a number of players in the window, including Moussa Sissoko
'Portsmouth is the name bandied around by those who believe the circumstances and financial position of every club is the same, but this window suggests the owners of QPR intend fighting to the last.'
So, had Rangers idled in neutral in the transfer window, they would still be in dire straits in the event of relegation. And without adding to Hughes's squad, that relegation would have been made certain.
Samba's wages do not drop in the Championship, either - but he will not play in the division below. If this bid for survival fails, like striker Remy, he will be one of Rangers' few saleable assets - and off the wage bill by the end of June.
The ageing Park Ji-sung and some of the relics of the Hughes era, not so much. They are the players who are dragging the club down. The latest developments are said to make Rangers' wage commitment a ticking bomb, but that device was primed anyway. What they are doing is attempting to cut a nasty-looking red wire.
It could go either way; but stay up, and they can clear and move on. Yes, Rangers paid big money to get these new players into Loftus Road. But they are bottom of the league.
How are they going to tempt Samba otherwise? Champions League football? Newcastle wanted Remy, too, so Rangers had to turn his head. What choice was there other than to offer a financial incentive - and no doubt the promise of a summer move if the gamble does not pay off?
Harry Redknapp has done a fine job in pulling Rangers out of their nosedive. On the day he took over, Rangers had four points from 13 matches at an average of 0.3 per game. They were heading, on aggregate, for a final total of 11 points, equalling the worst performance by any club since the introduction of three points for a win.
Under Redknapp, Rangers have taken 13 points from 12 games at an average of 1.08. It isn't enough. With 13 matches left, at that ratio Rangers are on course to finish with 31 points and will go down.
Yet most of those matches have been played with the old squad. If Redknapp can average 1.61 points per game between now and the end of the season, Rangers will reach 38, enough for survival in seven of the last 10 campaigns; 40 points has meant safety for the last eight years.
Ageing: Samba and Remy will be two of QPR's few saleable assets, unlike Park Ji-sung (above), should they go down
Ageing: Samba and Remy will be two of QPR's few saleable assets, unlike Park Ji-sung (above), should they go down
These are figures every bit as compelling as the ones portending financial crisis. Seven wins should keep Rangers in the Premier League and they have matches remaining against Sunderland, Stoke City, Wigan Athletic and Newcastle (home), and Southampton, Aston Villa, Fulham and Reading away.
Portsmouth is the name bandied around by those who believe the circumstances and financial position of every club is the same, but this window suggests that far from losing interest and wanting the money back - which is what happened at Fratton Park - the owners of QPR intend fighting to the last.
The odds are stacked against them, but they now have a puncher's chance - without this investment, as desperate as it may seem, they would have no chance at all. MAIL
- Premier League FORM TABLE: Reading Second - after Manchester United
CURRENT TABLE
| Club | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Man Utd | 26 | 65 |
| Man City | 24 | 52 |
| Chelsea | 26 | 46 |
| Arsenal | 26 | 44 |
| Everton | 26 | 43 |
| Tottenham | 24 | 42 |
| Liverpool | 24 | 35 |
| Swansea | 26 | 34 |
| West Brom | 24 | 34 |
| West Ham | 26 | 33 |
| Stoke | 26 | 30 |
| Newcastle | 26 | 30 |
| Sunderland | 26 | 29 |
| Fulham | 26 | 28 |
| Norwich | 25 | 28 |
| Reading | 26 | 26 |
| Southampton | 26 | 25 |
| Wigan | 26 | 22 |
| Aston Villa | 26 | 22 |
| QPR | 25 | 17 |
The QPR Squad of 25
Goalkeepers: Cesar, Green, Murphy Defenders: Ben Haim, Bosingwa, Fabio, Hill, Onouha, Samba, Traore, Yun Midfielders: Diakite, Derry, Granero, Hoilett, Jenas, Mackie, Mbia, Park, Wright-Phillips
Strikers: Bothroyd, Campbell, Remy, Taarabt, Zamora
Goalkeepers: Cesar, Green, Murphy Defenders: Ben Haim, Bosingwa, Fabio, Hill, Onouha, Samba, Traore, Yun Midfielders: Diakite, Derry, Granero, Hoilett, Jenas, Mackie, Mbia, Park, Wright-Phillips
Strikers: Bothroyd, Campbell, Remy, Taarabt, Zamora
A QPR REPORT PERSPECTIVE - CLUB RESPONSE AWAITED
The Club and its "Associations"
An ongoing matter of continued "regret" to at least this blogger:
That Queen's Park Rangers FC continue to provide a forum on its Official
Match Day broadcast show to "QBlockPete" - Pete Davies.
Ultimately, obviously the owners and senior management of Queen's
Park Rangers Football determine who they want to employ or utilize.
But equally, QPR supporters - quite a few of whom have been
supporting QPR a lot longer than any of the current QPR owners,
employees, or "Associates" - retain the freedom to express their views
(whether supportive or critical) and concerns on matters pertaining to
QPR.
If you want to express any views on this matter either privately or publicly, pm me on the QPR Report Messageboard or email at qprreport@hotmail.com
